MEMPHIS, Tenn. — On Thursday, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office released a detailed report on their findings in a three-week audit of the Shelby County Clerk’s Office after repeated problems with inaccurate revenue reports submitted by Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert.
According to the report, that’s only part of the problem, and widespread changes are needed in the clerk’s office to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“This [government] body has never received any type of reporting about what is happening and why,” said Shelby County Commissioner Britney Thornton, who said she's glad to have a better picture of the situation.
The county commissioner said these ongoing issues are why Halbert has called for a forensic audit in the past.
“Including one request to the state, where they said that there was no need,” Commissioner Thornton said. “What's interesting is, that through this report, there's clear need for that forensic audit.”
It was early March when the state comptroller’s office stepped in to clear up months of incorrect revenue reports that dated back to the summer of 2023.
“They were millions of dollars different from her first set to her second set [of reports],” said Shelby County Trustee Regina Newman.
And that’s not all they found.
Auditors from state Comptroller Jason Mumpower say members of the staff were not properly trained to use the software that all clerk’s offices in the state of Tennessee use to record financial transactions and were also not using it to its full capacity.
In a department with a high turnover rate, Commissioner Thornton says the issue of employee training goes hand-in-hand with better pay for employees, which she says Halbert has pushed for.
“To perform some of the roles that the Comptroller's Office has pointed out, you have to pay people to be able to perform those roles,” she said.
Auditors also say there were cases of employees deleting their own transactions without authorization, while others were not able to properly track how much money someone owed the county after writing a bad check.
Newman says the lack of oversight is a financial risk.
“Otherwise, you could have somebody taking money and deleting the transaction where the money came in,” she said.
Comptroller Mumpower sent a letter to Shelby County Commissioners and Mayor Lee Harris where he said:
“Without additional training or intervention, our Office lacks confidence the clerk’s office will be able to accurately report revenue figures in future months.”
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen come April 10th in regards to the March report,” Newman said. “But I’m hoping it comes out just as easy as the reports from the Comptroller.”
ABC24 reached out to Halbert but she has not responded at this time.
The report does state that Halbert told auditors they are already in the process of learning how the software can automatically sort the wheel tax, which was the main issue with the previous reports.